On what should have the last play of a game between the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals, the Ravens S inexplicably handed an early Christmas present to the Bengals by softly tipping a Hail Mary pass into the grateful arms of WR A.J. Green, allowing the Bengals to go into OT tied at 17.

“It looked like Ihedigbo was playing volleyball,” said an incredulous Dan Dierdorf to his CBS partner Greg Gumbel. “He just laid up a softball to A.J. Green.”

This shouldn’t have happened! (@TomFornelli)

It was a stunningly boneheaded brain cramp from a player who otherwise had a stellar game, picking off QB Andy Dalton twice in the 20-17 victory over the Bengals.

That's the easiest touchdown AJ Green will score the rest of his life. Assist, Ihedigbo. What a gaffe.

After the play allowed the game to go extra time, Ihedigbo was reamed out by CB Jimmy Smith on the sidelines. It was good TV and showed true emotions from the participants, without a lot of the juvenile crap we usually get out of NFL players: Ihedigbo made a dumb mistake by not smashing the ball to the ground and Smith let him know about it.

The 29-year-old is far from a raw rookie, but in addition to almost handing the game to their divisional leaders, Ihedigbo picked up his first two career INTs.

A post shared by James Ihedigbo (@diggz32) on Nov 11, 2013 at 5:47am PST

This NFL Sunday had some other strange and mysterious happenings on the day before Remembrance Day (Veterans Day south of the border). There were two huge upsets that nobody in their right minds would have predicted.

First off, the Jacksonville Jaguars finally got off their own personal schneid by beating the Tennessee Titans 29-27 in a stunner. Most thought that by losing their best offensive threat (WR Justin Blackmon) to the demon of drugs and a season-long suspension, the Jags would mail in the rest of the year and do the rare winless season!

But they stunned the NFL cognescenti and actually won a game.

The biggest upset of the day came from the St. Louis Rams, who clobbered and mistreated the Indianapolis Colts 38-8 at home. Many were calling the Colts the class of the league last week but after that no-show, how good are they?

The win came despite the stats line of Rams QB Kellen Clemens, who completed only nine of 16 attempts for 247 yards. He threw only two TDs and was not a star of the game. Rookie WR Tavon Austin was though, notching two TD passes and completing a 98 yard TD punt return, which was a sideline-hugging thing of beauty.

What wasn’t quite a thing of beauty was the 10-9 Carolina Panthers San Franciscio 49ers defensive struggle, that was labelled a prize fight by Fox TV’s Brian Billick. The DeAngelo Williams 27-yard rushing TD was called an “upper left hook” by Billick continuing this metaphorical flourish.

It actually looked like soft defence by the 49ers, as the RB was barely harassed so close to the end zone. San Francisco are not as solid as they have been the last two seasons. They were not able to hold off the surging Panthers, who traveled cross country and beat the NFC bullies at their own game.

Make that FIVE straight wins for Carolina.
If you haven’t seen the @Panthers defense play, you maybe haven't seen the best D in the NFL.

Meanwhile the Denver Broncos continued rolling up victories in their usual fashion but it was a one-score win against a divisional rival Sunday as the Peytons won 28-20 over the San Diego Chargers.

Manning’s first cadence call heard over the TV screens was something different and fitting in with the fall season, as he screamed “Apple, apple, apple” at teammates to begin the game.

At the end of the game, as the clock wound off the seconds and players milled about hugging each other, CBS Jim Nantz passed on a tender message to Broncos coach John Fox, who underwent heart surgery Friday and is resting at home for the rest of the regular season.